I saw one of those trips when I was a 16-yr old, traveling down then hwy. 99 with my father on the way to one of his customers in Mexico. It was pure coincidence that we were driving in that area; usually the customer flew us down. Until this day, I never knew what the crate contained or why it was surrounded by so many cops! I recall we thought it was an ICBM or something.

Re the name; Kelly Johnson called it for what it was, Groom Lake (after the dry lake there). Lockheed and the CIA first named it Watertown. When OXCART began, the name was updated to Paradise Ranch, (it was -and is- generally known as just "The Ranch"). The old story is they wanted to make the place sound like it would be fun and interesting with that name, and not just an isolated dry lake with hangers and related buildings. Other refs call it Dreamland, which always reminded me of a George Lucas film. Others on this board who have flown in the military will also ref it as The Box. Bob H